Bureau of Economic Analysis

Survey of Current Business

Table of Contents October 1997

Selected articles may be accessed by clicking on the links below. (An
Acrobat (PDF) version of the table of
contents is also available; however, links to other files will work only when
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4.0.)

This release of revised annual estimates of State personal
income for 1958–96 completes the comprehensive revision to the
estimates for those years. The revised estimates incorporate the final results
of the most recent comprehensive revision of the national income and product
accounts (NIPA’s),
the 1997
annual revision of the NIPA’s,
the county-level estimation of the adjustment for residence, and newly available
State-level source data. The revisions to the estimates of State personal income
before 1993 were generally small and reflected the revisions to
the national estimates. By 1996,
the revisions were more widespread and more substantial, reflecting both the
revisions to the national estimates and the incorporation of newly available
State-level source data for all the components of personal income.

Regular features

Real GDP increased 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 1997 after
increasing 4.9 percent in the first quarter, and the price
index for gross domestic purchases increased 0.8 percent after increasing 1.9 percent. Corporate profits increased $15.5 billion in the second quarter, largely
reflecting an increase in the profits of domestic non-financial corporations.

Growth in the overall operations of U.S. multinational companies
(MNC’s)
continued in 1995:
Worldwide gross product of U.S. parent companies and their majority-owned
foreign affiliates combined increased 6 percent,
employment increased 1 percent, and capital expenditures increased 8 percent. Gross
product and employment grew faster for the foreign affiliates than for the
parents, while capital expenditures grew at the same rate for both. However,
worldwide production and productive resources of MNC’s
remained concentrated in the United States: U.S. parents accounted for
three-fourths of the gross product, employment, and capital expenditures of U.S. MNC’s,
while their affiliates accounted for one-fourth.

The U.S. current-account deficit decreased to $39.0 billion in the second quarter of 1997 from $40.0 billion in the first quarter. A decrease in
the deficit on goods and services more than offset
increases in the deficit on investment income and in net unilateral transfers.
In the capital account, net recorded capital inflows were $56.2 billion in the second quarter, down from $54.3 billion in the first.

95 U.S. International Sales and Purchases of
Private Services: U.S. Cross-Border Transactions in 1996 and Sales by Affiliates
in
1995 (PDF)

The United States recorded another surplus on cross-border
transactions in private services in 1996,
when the balance rose to a record $78.1 billion and offset
a significant portion of the $191.2 billion U.S. deficit on trade in goods. By
country, Japan was the leading destination for exports of services, and the
United Kingdom was the leading origin for imports of services. In 1995, the latest
year for which data are available on services delivered through majority-owned
affiliates, sales of services abroad by the foreign affiliates of U.S. companies
increased 20 percent to $205.8 billion, while sales of services in the United
States by the U.S. affiliates of foreign companies increased 8 percent to $167.6 billion. By country, affiliates of U.S.
companies in the United Kingdom had the largest share of services sold abroad by
foreign affiliates, and affiliates with ultimate beneficial owners in the United
Kingdom had the largest share of services sold in the United States by U.S.
affiliates.

Benchmark Input Output Accounts. The 1992 benchmark input output accounts for the
U.S. economy will be presented in two upcoming articles in the SURVEY.
The first article will include summary tables of the output (make) and the
inputs (use) for each of 96 industries, and the second will
include requirements tables for those industries.

Gross Product
by Industry. Revised
estimates of gross product by industry for 1993 and 1994 and new estimates for 1995 and 1996 that incorporate the recent annual NIPA revision will be presented in an upcoming
issue of the SURVEY.